Out With the Old

<---- This is my Public Service Announcement for New Year's Eve. If you are still AT home, stay there. If you are thinking of going out at this hour, don't. If you're already somewhere else, stay there. If you aren't sure where you are, how did you find this blog?

Now that THAT is out of the way....

'Tis that time of year to look back over the year that's over to see what we learned.

** Son Thomas kicked off our year by having surgery on his nether regions to remove a nasty MRSA infection. This was serious scary stuff, and what we learned was never to take sitting down for granted.

** Traveled to California to meet a long time friend (heya, Darlene!), and was joined halfway there by another long time friend (heya, Mel!), neither of which I'd ever laid eyes on. I learned several things on this trip: there are a lot of people in Orange County, Eggman's egg has mystical powers, don't ever get between Mel and her late night "soda" run, and that the Crystal Cathedral is really, really big. Oh, and Darlene is a map freak. ;-)

** Being 49 sucks wind.

** When friends (heya, Anne and Hal!) call and ask if you want tickets to a Bama game, don't ever think it's necessary to ask what else might be going on that day. (That's what Henry asked -- and the answer will always be WHO CARES???)

** If you ask drunken foul-mouthed young men to please, pretty please not say the "f" word anymore at a ball game, and you ask it very nicely, you embarrass the snot out of them and they shut up.

** Mothers get really sick, and sometimes they get really better really fast.

** Friends (heya, Garnet!) can and do battle breast cancer with tremendous humor, grit, and style. And they WIN.

** When your son says, "I'm gonna have to take my kitten to the pound. On Christmas Eve." you are gonna have a new cat in the house. (Heya, Paddy O'Malley!)

** When you don't ever look at yourself backwards, sometimes you don't notice the mole growin' on your back, and that's not a good thing. Check those things. You could wind up with a very cool scar like I have -- and no cancer left to keep growing.

** When your son says, "Mom? We're moving to St. Louis" and you tell your friends and they all tell you that it's not so bad and you start studying St. Louis and realize it's really a pretty neat-o place, and then everybody else starts thinking the same thing, well, you might as well buy your ticket and just go. Even if the aforementioned son and his wife never get farther away than Birmingham. ;-)

** Always dive for Ted Drewes' custard, and never trust a friend who says, "Of course, I'm here at the airport alone."

** Always check out the tables at Starbucks in airports. There are very wonderful people who sit there. (Heya, Carrie!)

** At every opportunity, hear Q sing. Trust me.

** Never say no to spending time with friends if you can swing it. They feed your soul.

** Never pass up an opportunity to laugh, especially when you want to cry.

** Never assume that just because somebody has it made that they are happy. Rest in peace, sweet Raymond.

** Be ever so grateful for every struggle you have. We get strong at the broken places.

** Walking is power, and grace, and peace.

** Stop every once in a while and tell the people you love that you love them, even if you think they surely know it. I love you, Henry. I love you, Luke. I love you, Thomas. I love you, Jackie. You are my life.

** Whatever you need to leave in 2007, leave it with gratitude for the gifts even the hardest things have left you. Even if you don't know it now, that broken road is getting you somewhere. Don't look down -- look up -- always. Look up.